Find your way around YouTube

Navigate YouTube on mobile

Signed in? How you navigate YouTube depends if you are signed in. You can determine if you’re signed in by touching the menu. If you’re signed in you’ll see your name or username, if you’re not, you’ll see the prompt to Sign in. This article covers navigation while signed in.

When you open the YouTube app, you’ll land on What to Watch. What to Watch highlights recent uploads and activity from your subscriptions and videos recommended for you. You will also see popular content and YouTube Mixes if you’ve previously watched music videos. You can navigate back to this feed at any time from the Guide.

Guide

You can access the Guide at any time, by touching the menu at the top of the screen. The Guide lets you switch between What to Watch and My Subscriptions, your watch history and watch later lists, all of the playlists you’ve created or saved, and the channels you’ve subscribed to.

In the Guide you can also click your name or email address to switch accounts. This is useful if you’re switching between two different Google accounts or if you’re managing the YouTube channel for your Google+ page.

Settings

You can access your settings in the menu, or . From Settings you can update the settings for your particular device. This includes connecting to TVs, search filtering, and accessing Help.

Search

The other icon you’ll see is the search icon . Enter what you’re searching for and then filter the results by videos, channels, or playlists.

Navigate YouTube on desktop

If you’re new to YouTube or haven’t signed in, the homepage will display the most popular videos and highlights from categories like Music, Sports, and Gaming.
Once you’ve signed in, the navigation bar at the top of every YouTube page allows you to easily find the stuff you care about. To sign out or change account settings, click on your channel icon in the top corner of YouTube.

Guide

Open the Guide to access your channel, playlists, subscriptions, history, videos you’ve saved to watch later, and purchases (if applicable). Learn more about the features accessible within the Guide.

What to watch / My Subscriptions

If you’re on the YouTube homepage, the center navigation items allow you to switch views of your homepage. What to Watch highlights videos recommended for you from your subscriptions and watch history while My Subscriptions allows you to view recent uploads and activity from your subscriptions.

Channel icon

To access the Creator Studio or switch between channels, select your channel icon in the top corner of the page. The Creator Studio includes your Dashboard, Video Manager, Analytics, and more.